Pål R:
Well, it's more like subtle pressure moving through my body or outside of it in accordance with my intention and visualization. Sometimes strange joy arises, but nothing extatic. Relaxation is sometimes deep. Early on, there used to be periods of strange unitentional movements, but these have stopped, probably since channels have opened and I've gotten more used to handling "energy". I don't think I'm past A&P, since these "symptoms" are not nearly as dramatic as those of my friends who are going through kundalini awakenings.
I too have found it effective to pray at the start of samatha, usually one syllable per breath. What kind of prayer are you into, and in which tradition? I'm moving closer and closer to christian esotericism.
I also feel energetic sensations as subtle pressure, strong pressure and a whole bunch of other sensations. I think that it's highly, highly unlikely that you're not post-A&P based on the energetic sensations you described.
My first getting the A&P was very dramatic and sudden and was the result of a month of chanting prayers and vizualizing when learning Tibetan ngondro a retreat in 2003, but I've talked to people at the end of retreats who started feeling strong vibratory sensations during month-long Mahasi-style vipassana retreats and they didn't get any of the energetic fireworks that I had when I first started feeling energy. I've read descriptions of kundalini awakenings and while I do have flowing, pulsing vibratory sensations that go up my back (on the outside, close to the surface, it feels like just under the skin of the back, rather than in the spine) and down the front as part of the microcosmic orbit in a circular way, they don't quite match those kundalini descriptions. Among other things, they aren't really fully in the spine, though it's a bit hard to tell. I don't think I've ever felt kundalini, though I really don't know, since none of the traditions I've worked in used the word.
How do you mean kundalini? Also, what else makes you think that you haven't passed the A&P? Is it because you might not have had dukkha ñanas? While I've been experienced them (over and over and over at times in the cycles within cycles stages), I didn't realize that I had and was past them when I first started vipassana. Also, having a more samatha-oriented practice like you do (from what I'm gathering) can bypass them or mute them dramatically. Add to that the other practices you do and the progress of insight model might apply to you a lot less.
There are definitely times when the energetic sensations are very weak. It depends on the quality of my practice. There have also been times on retreat when the strength of the energetic sensations was weak at some times of the day and much stronger later, at specific times in the evening, for example.
About involuntary movements, I got those during equanimity on retreat and much more intensely after my mind calmed down a few days after the cessation I got in 2010. They eventually went away. I also think it was a channel opening thing.
I tend to start my practice with the Theravada refuge prayer (Namo tassa bhagavato...) and then do some highly abbreviated and slightly changed Theravada metta prayers before starting vipassana most days. It takes about 5 minutes and basically just amounts to wishing that all beings be well, happy and peaceful. The order I do it is wishing that for myself, my parents, relatives (and occasionally ancestors), teachers, friends, all beings, all beings in my house (I say it as "this house"), this neighborhood, city, province, country, world, universe and all beings past, present and future. I say it three times for each. Lastly I wish that all beings in the traditional Buddhist six realms be well, happy and peaceful. The way I do it is to wish all beings in the hell realm be well happy and peaceful, then say the same for the hungry ghost realm, animal realm, human realm, asura realm, deva realm and again all beings. I then dedicate all merit for the benefit of all sentient beings.
I occasionally also say some prayers from my Palyul Nyingma ngondro prayer book. I've mostly avoided doing breath control practices since I had energetic problems in 2007 that I had to get cleared up with Chinese medicine. It was classic pressure in the head stuff and other circulatory problems. I feel that I got it due to practicing incorrectly, which among other things included not doing the full ngondro prayers. Back when I was only a vajrayanist (I haven't yet gone back to it in the full sense, though I feel a strong pull back and would like to dive back into it once my samatha is much better) and not a very good one, I felt that the prayers among many other things, opened up the channels and corrected (and partly protected me from) mistakes and problems in the way I was practicing. It amounted to asking for help and getting it. The prayers also make the tantric vizualization practices possible. Tantrism is arguably all about living a life of prayer. The evocation/invocation stuff is all an extension of that, though I don't currently do those. One thing to keep in mind is that I had gotten transmission for these practices and that the transmissions are easily available. The Tibetans are very generous about teaching their whole system and taking care of their students, or at least the ones I studied with were. I'm certain my lama could have cleared up the problems I was having had I gone back to see him at the time.
I'm curious, what kind of Christian esotericism are you looking into?
I'll second Tom's recommendation of Culadasa's book. It's immensely helpful for samatha practice, especially anapana (though you can use it to model the progress in the practice of any samatha concentration focus). It's worth reading over a few times over and reviewing section by section as you move through each samatha stage. The progression is much more pleasant than the progress of insight cycles progression I get from noting (though I still do a bit of noting at times when doing samatha). It's the only book that I know of that explains in detail how to get a cessation followed by emptiness (I didn't get emptiness from my cessation, my mind wasn't unified enough) from samatha practice and why that happens. The samatha practice described is a samatha-vipassana combination, but it's much more weighted towards the samatha side of things.
